doctor_slump 2008-3-21 12:49 PM
Toronto police shoot runaway cow after 4-hr rampage
Police in Toronto, Canada's largest metropolis, on Thursday shot a rampaging cow that had fallen off a truck and backed up morning rush hour traffic.
The steer injured two people and repeatedly charged at police after a trailer carrying it and several other cows flipped over on a freeway, Ontario Provincial Police Constable Dave Woodford told reporters.
After four hours of trying to corral the 1,000-pound (450-kilogram) animal, an officer finally took it down for safety reasons, using his service revolver, he said.
"We were following this cow that was running in the main streets of the (suburban neighborhood) and all of a sudden it turned and started charging at the officer," said Woodford.
"He just pulled his handgun out and started shooting at it. It would be like a car coming at you, that's what it would be like," he said, adding that the officer fired more than a dozen bullets at the steer.
When the trailer tipped over, three other cows and a bull were suddenly freed and fled onto the highway, causing chaos and forcing police to shut down the busy roadway for about an hour while they tried to get the animals off to the side.
The animals then absconded into a nearby residential neighborhood, where they grazed for awhile on people's lawns.
